


Better and Worse

by revolutionaryfury



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable Cosette, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Artist Grantaire, F/M, Grantaire Shipping Week 2013, Photographer!Cosette, Why am I not shipping E/R?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2013-11-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 14:33:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1045070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revolutionaryfury/pseuds/revolutionaryfury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Grantaire and Cosette's relationship is examined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better and Worse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kjack89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/gifts).



> We all know how I love E/R, but I saw an amazing Grantaire/Cosette and decided to go for it.

Sometimes Grantaire wonders how he got to be this lucky. He wasn’t born for luck, after all. He was born for parents who shouted at each other; a sister who OD’d when she was seventeen. He was born for booze numbing his pain and then igniting it again. He was born for running from his problems, for art that was filled with anger, and of course, for cynicism.

 

He was not built for Cosette. 

 

Cosette was light and purity and love all stuffed into a tiny blonde body. She was built for sunny meadows and babbling brooks and running through the forest and being a nymph. She was built for photographing the cityscape and eating in small cafes and wearing oversized sweaters and tights. She was spring and summer combined – warm and beautiful and calming.

 

Grantaire was just winter. Brittle and cold.

 

But somehow, Cosette had turned some of that around.

 

Grantaire began to get a bit better. His self-destructive tendencies didn't melt away; they never would. But he painted lighter scenes with less death and drank three bottles instead of five. He drank his coffee black, not Irish. He was just as cynical as before – he probably always would be – but he was able to mask it with sarcasm.

 

Cosette was the better half of Grantaire, and she always would be, really.

 

Oddly enough, she bettered him, but he worsened her. She would always deny it, but Grantaire could see it.

 

Cosette drank heavier after a night of dealing with one of his self-loathing tirades. She wore plainer clothes, and snapped a bit more. It wasn't noticeable to anyone but Grantaire.

 

He didn't deserve her already, but the fact that he was bringing down the physical embodiment of happiness killed him.

 

If you had asked Cosette, she could deny everything he just said. They loved each other, she would say. Their relationship wasn’t perfect, but it worked out.

 

And in the end, she would say, that was all that mattered.


End file.
